Georgian cuisine is one of the great undiscovered food cultures of the world, and the best reason to eat out every night during your stay. The two dishes you will encounter everywhere are khinkali — large pleated soup dumplings filled with spiced meat or mushrooms, eaten by hand and bitten from the bottom to drink the broth — and khachapuri, the boat-shaped cheese bread that comes in regional variations, the most famous being the Adjarian version with an egg and pat of butter melting into the cheese.
Beyond the standards, Georgian cooking is richly varied: satsivi (cold chicken or turkey in walnut sauce), chakhokhbili (braised chicken with tomatoes and herbs), lobiani (bean-filled flatbread), badrijani nigvzit (aubergine rolls with walnut paste). Walnuts appear in everything. The food is best at family-run places in the old town and around Aghmashenebeli Avenue; the tourist-facing restaurants on the main streets are reliable but pricier. Budget 20–40 GEL per person for a full meal with wine.